Lisa from etsy shop this and that from Japan is kindly giving whipup readers the chance to win one of 3 $25 vouchers to her very cute etsy shop + she is offering whipup readers 15% discount on fabric orders over $25 (excluding shipping). Just mention whipup when checking out to receive your discount.

ThisandThatFromJapan.etsy.com stocks a huge range of Japanese fabric and stamps and other craft supplies (just a few pictured above). You have 48 hours to leave a comment on your fave Japanese fabric. entries closed: winners are: Giselle, Heather and Meg – congrats girls – you have been contacted via email.

Fridah Mwenda has a Fabric shop on etsy specialising in cute Japanese Fabric.

She is offering 2 Whipup readers a $50 gift certificate to spend in her shop.

I love this shop and wanted to find out more about it.

Fridah where are you located?
I moved to Singapore, the fabulous Red Dot with my family 5 years ago. I was a little apprehensive at first about the move to such a ‘faraway’ place… but this dynamic little city state is truly rich in color, diversity and culture.

How long have your been interested in Japanese crafts
I started out selling handmade jewelry in 2006 but realised that the market was too saturated. In my search for a new venture I stumbled the most adorable fabric I’d ever seen. I knew I had to get some. When I destashed the extra fabric I had purchased. When that sold in a matter of minutes I realised there was a huge market for Japanese fabric and crafts that I could fill.

What is your favourite Japanese crafts
The numerous unique craft supplies and tools are my favourite crafts items. Japanese have a way of making everything so simple to make or create. If you need to twist, fold, bend, carve, roll, whatever… there is probably a simple neat… and adorable tool somewhere for it. It doesn’t matter if you can’t read Japanese, the instructions are visual.

What is your most popular line
The Kokka and Lecien Cotton Linen collections have always had a good market. Recently however with the explosion of the Matryoshka trend, the collection of Matryoshka dolls from Cosmo Textiles have been highly popular.

What fabrics do you specialise in and what will you be stocking in the near future
I specialise in Japanese print fabric of the kawaii (cute/adorable in Japanese) kind, mainly in cotton and cotton/linen blends from Kokka, Cosmo-Textiles and Lecien. Mainly character prints that depict animals, anime characters, people, vegetables, etc.

In future I plan to bring in more traditional Japanese patterns, flowers and motifs. I am also thinking of dabbling in a bit of chirimen, kimono pattern prints and other Japanese designers like Shinzo Katoh, Mico Ogura’s Ecrulat and Puti De Pome, Etsuko Furaya and Naomi Ito

Thank you Fridah – to win one of these $50 vouchers please leave a comment with your favourite Japanese tool or fabric that you have used or are dying to try out. Comments open for 48 hours. Comments are now closed – winners will be contacted in the next few days – thank you everyone for entering.

Potter craft are giving away 5 kits to make one of the projects – these adorable felt earings – featured in their new book Feltique.

Get the PDF download of the project here and win one of 5 kits by leaving a comment on this post – open for the next 48 hours – tell us your favourite felt project that you have made.

Feltique: Techniques and Projects for Wet Felting, Needle Felting, Fulling, and Working with Commercial Felt by Nikola Davidson and Brookelynn Morris. Potter Craft; 1 edition (May 19, 2009).

Update: thank you all for entering – winners will be announced shortly.

Patricia at Art Gallery Fabrics is having a whopper of a Mother’s Day giveaway. Quick, get on over and enter. Link.

Shambala are offering whipup readers the chance to win one of three copies of each of these books. For more information on these two books go to the Make Good Books website and read where I reviewed these books here – These are the first books in the Make Good: crafts + life series of Japanese craft books translated into English and published through Shambhala.

Shambala are also offering this project for download right here – one of the projects from Linen Wool Cotton – this floor mat pattern. Download PDF here.

To enter – leave a comment here in the next 48 hours – letting us know your favourite Japanese inspired project. winners will be announced in next few days.

Patchwork Style: 35 Simple Projects for a Cozy and Colorful Life (Make Good: Crafts + Life) by Suzuko Koseki. Trumpeter (April 14, 2009)

Linen, Wool, Cotton: 25 Simple Projects to Sew with Natural Fabrics (Make Good: Crafts + Life) by Akiko Mano. Trumpeter (April 14, 2009)

Thank you everyone for entering – winners have been contacted – here they are:

amy:
i think sashiko is my number one inspiration of japanese craft stuff, but really, it’s the entire package. i love the simplicity of the books themselves, and the projects inside them. i have several japanese amigurami books, and a japanese embroidery book (i’d have more, but they’re so pricey!), and i love the designs and the formatting of the books themselves.

Deanna:
I love the Patchwork Style book and have been dying to get one – its not available in Australia apparantly! Im very new to sewing and there are a few projects i want to make – especially a super-size floor mat that is patchworked (im pretty sire there is a more achievable sized one in the book!). I love these titles and hope to see more published soon!

Kym:
How could I choose just one? The Japanese children’s clothes patterns are so stylish and toys are irresistably cute. I love the simplicity of zakka, with just a little piece of lace or embroidery turning a plain object into something wonderful. What’s not to love about Japanese craft?

klaudia:
Thank you for the giveaway, sounds lovely! I have a lot of favourite Japanese inspired projects, depending what am I about to make..most recently it’s aprons…so cool and simple and stylish…I would also love to have a go at tunics..but that’s a thought for the future:)

dawn:
I’ve been a huge fan of Japanese craft books for a few years now. My kids can’t get enough of the cute felt animals but I love the simplicity of embroidered linen projects.

Cindy Ericsson:
I hand-sewed a great Japanese-inspired tank last summer using a lovely blue and white batik fabric. I cut out the pieces by copying a very plain tank. Once I’d sewn the side seams and the straps, I adjusted the fit around the neck by sewing box pleats. I wore it to one of my husband’s work functions — he thought I’d bought it in a shop!

Brassy apple is offering three whipup readers a copy of her haute hostess apron.

You have three days to enter and then three readers will be picked at random. To make it more interesting please leave a comment (consider this your entry) and tell us two things you like to do while wearing an apron.

Three winners will be chosen and announced – winners will receive a handmade apron and not a pattern as previously said – sorry for the inconvenience.

To win one of five copies of the latest mixtape zine issue answer this question in the comments here.

Q. If you are making your own mixed tape of crafty goodness, what two things might be on it? (Question is completely open to interpretation eg: could be your favourite songs to craft to or favourite mixture of crafty delights.) [comp open for 2 days]

Love the new full cover issue of Mixtape zine. Sadly saying goodbye to Nikki as she busies herself with her many other projects.

Lisa, from ‘this and that from japan’, is originally from Hawaii but she has been in Japan for over ten years, in her etsy fabric shop, she sells all sorts of Japanese fabric and supplies. She started at the end of last year due to all the requests from friends and their friends to send cute Japanese fabric home. Encouraged to set up a shop on Etsy – ’somehow things took off from there’. Lisa’s etsy store ‘this and that from Japan‘ carries mainly cotton and cotton linen blends. With a specialty in “kawaii” or cute Japanese fabric.

My mom is a crafter and made everything… I think it naturally rubs off on children growing up in such an environment.

Lisa is giving away two $25 gift certificates from her fabric shop to whipup readers. To enter all you have to do is list your two favourite Japanese fabrics here in the comments over the next 2 days and Lisa will choose two entries at random.

Lisa is also offering a 10% discount for whipup readers during the next three days, when checking out as usual in message to buyer write “Whipup” and Lisa will send you a revised invoice.

Links:
this and that from japan etsy store is stocked mainly with fabric.
this and that from japan artfire store is stocked with more scrap booking supplies – stamps, punchers, paper etc.

Cuteable are offering a basket of handmade goodies to be posted anywhere in the world. Link.

blogiversary at sunshine creations giving away a handmade apron – ends July 19

The Radical Cross Stitch Posse presents: The Fabric of Resistance is a non-heirarchical community created archive and celebration of radical craft action and organisation, past and present.

The wiki style archive has been established as a resource for radical craft practitioners, historians, students. Fabric of Resistance is a tribute to the creative resistance which is often marginalised by both crafters and activists, yet has provided the visionary spark for great uprisings, revolutions and major social change.

This wiki is a constant work in progress. So this is a call out is for the stories of women and men you know in your community who use craft as a form of resistance.

Please add your stories, preferably with images. We want to know names, dates and issues. But we’re especially interested in the stories behind the work. Tell us about the design processes as well as the creation process. If you want help with questions to ask people let us know. And please don’t hold back because you think some information you have is not significant enough. Even if you just remember someone’s name from some protest back in the day, add it in because it might be a good lead for some else to follow up on. Finally, please pass this information on to people you know who might want to help collect these stories. We need this call out to go as far and wide as possible.

vintage necklace giveaway – at turtle moss

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